Trimming mechanism for sewing-machines.



R. .G. WOODWARD.

TRIMMING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES. I APPLICATION IILED APR. 7,1904. RENEWED-MAY 17, 1910.

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ra /E Patented Nov. 15, 1910.

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TRIMMING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MACHINES. APPLIOA'I'ION FILED APR. 7,1904. mnswnnmu 17,1910.

976,023. Patented Nov. 15,1910

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

TATES ATNT FFMJE.

RUSSEL G. WOODWARD, OF WAUKEG-AN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO UNION SPECIALING MACHINE 00., OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

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TBIMMING MECHANISM FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 15, 1910.

Application filed April 7, 1904, Serial No. 202,049. Renewed May 17,1910. Serial No. 561,902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUssEL Gr. WOOD- WARD, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Waukegan, in the county of Lake, State of Illinois,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trimming Mechanismfor Sewing-Machines, of which the following is a description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters and figures ofreference marked thereon.

My invention relates to an improvement in trimming devices andparticularly to a trimming mechanism for sewing machines.

The particular style of trimming mechanism for which the presentinvention has been designed, is that known as the Dewees trimmer,manufactured by the Union Special Sewing Machine Company. Such a trimmeris illustrated in the patents granted John W. Dewees, October 31st,1882, and December 23rd, 1884:, numbered respectively 266,783 and309,699, in which upper and lower toggles or knives rock one upon theother and sever the fabric by abrasion, as distinguished from a knife orshear out. It will be understood that while the present invention isparticularly applicable to a trimmer of this character, I do not wish tobe limited to such application in all respects.

Referring more particularly to the use of a trimmer of the Dewees type,it has been found in practice, when the trimmer has been set to cut anordinary weight or thickness of fabric, that should an extra thickness,such as a heavier piece of fabric, or a seam pass therethrough, itrequires a greater amount of pressure between the upper and lowertoggles, which soon destroys the toggle, as it is very dificult totemper them so they will withstand the heavier pressure and not be toosoft, when used upon light weights. When the heavy pressure ismaintained, the toggle is liable to chip out or wear a groove 1n thesurface of the lower toggle if it be softer than the upper one.

To remedy defects existing in this, as well as other trimmers, whererotary or oscillating surface cuts against another, I- have in briefmade two features of improvement, one consisting in providing ahead ofthe trimming surface a toothed surface for aiding the fabric forward tothe place where the severing action takes place; second, in

providing ahead of the severing surface, and in a plane above it apartial severing surface, to reduce the thickness of the material at thepoint where it is to be out, to such an amount that it can be readilysevered by the regular cutting surface under ordinary pressure.

Still another feature, consists in the addition to the trimmer havingthe preliminary partial cutting surface and the final severing surfacein rear thereof, of the feeding teeth as set forth in the first featurementioned.

As a further feature the heel of the severing device, in rear of thesevering surface is cut away on the side, or beveled off to permit thethick fabric to pass by the heel of the cutter, without striking saidheel, and having its passage obstructed.

The invention, therefore, consists in the features above enumerated asrelating broadly to improvements in trimming attachments, and it alsoconsists in the application of such improvements to trimmers in whichthe cooperating severing surfaces roll or rock one on the other, bothbeing formed on arcs of circles, and also to the above features whenespecially applied to trimmers of the type, where the cutting orsevering is accomplished by an abrading action; all of which features,as well as others will be hereinafter described and referred to in theappended claims.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in whichFigure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the two toggles or knives.Figs. 2, 3 and 4: are side views of the same illustrating the fabric indifferent positions, with respect thereto, and Fig. 5 is a detail viewof the upper toggle. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the upper toggle;and Flg. 7 1s a rear edge view of the same.

In these drawings, A represents the upper toggle, knife or jaw of myimproved trimming device, and B the lower jaw upon which the upper aw Aworks, and between which and the said upper jaw the fabric to beoperated upon, passes and is severed. As the mode of attachment andoperation of the jaws, toggle or knives is well known in the art, I donot deem it necessary to show more than the jaws, toggle or knives, asmy present invention is confined to the construction and operation ofthese alone. The

upper toggle, knife or jaw A has as usual the spur G, engaging therecess D 1n the lower jaw.

The upper toggle, knife or jaw which is herein illustrated as anembodiment of my invention, is provided with the abrading surface a infront of the heel or spur C, and is formed upon the arc of a circle, andcooperates with the lower toggle periphery to sever the fabric, byabrasion. In front of this severing surface a, is a sharp or knife edgesurface I), which is disposed relative to the abrading surface a, sothat in the oscillation of the toggle, this surface 6 does not come incontact with the face of the lower toggle, but only with the top side ofthe fabric, and if the latter is thick enough, it will cut into it to acertain extent, thus leaving the final severing to be performed by thesurface a, acting on the face of the lower toggle; the effect being thatthe toggles may be set to cut the usual thickness of goods underOldlllfll" proper pressure, and if heavy goods are to be cut, thesurface Z) will do the preliminary severing, or cut a furrow in thegoods, leaving a thickness to be severed by the surface a of only theordinary thickness. The advantages of this have already been pointed outin the statement of invention.

As a further improvement, I have provided on the upper toggle, inadvance of the sharp surface Z), a toothed surface 0 placed there, toengage the fabric and help feed it forward. Of course, this isespecially useful in case heavy or thick fabric are to be severed andsewed on the machine.

As another improvement, I have cut away or ground out the heel or spur Cupon one side, as shown at cl, to allow the piece of fabric previouslycut, to pass by without striking against the heel or spur.

It will be understood that I do not wish to be limited to any of thedetails of construction set forth and illustrated herein, as variousminor modifications and changes may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention.

Figs. 2, 3 and 4 illustrate the action of the upper toggle upon thedifferent portions of fabric, while the same is passing through thetrimmer; Fig. 2 illustrating alone the feeding action of the part 0;Fig. 3 the same, and the partial severing action of the sur face I), andFig. 4, both these actions, with the final abrasion, and guiding of thefabric past the heel or spur C.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is 1. A trimming device, including upper and lowercooperating members, one of said members having a surface so disposedrelative to the other member as to partially sever the material, and asurface so disposed relative to the other member and acting subsequentlyto said first named surface as to completely separate the material;substantially as described. 7 V

2. A trimming device, including upper and lower cooperating members, oneof said members having a sharp cutting surface so disposed relative tothe other member as to partially sever the material, and an abradingsurface in rear of the sharp cutting surface for completely severingsaid material; substantially as described.

3. A trimming device, including upper and lower cooperating members, oneof said members having a surface so disposed relative to the othermember as to partially sever the material, and a relatively bluntsurface so disposed with respect to the other member and actingsubsequently thereto, as to completely separate the material;substantially as described.

4. A trimming device including upper and lower cooperating members oneof said members having a surface so disposed relative to the othermember as to partially sever the material and a surface so disposedrelative to the other member and acting subsequently to said first namedsurface as to completely separate the material, said severing surfacebeing in advance of said separating surface, and closely adjacentthereto, whereby said surfaces may act simultaneously upon the material;substantially as described.

5. A trimming device including upper and lower cooperating members, oneof said members having a sharp cutting surface so disposed relative tothe other member as to partially sever the material and an abradingsurface in rear of the sharp cutting surface for completely severingsaid material, said sharp cutting surface and said abrading surfacebeing located closely adjacent to each other, whereby said surfaces mayact simultaneously upon the material; substantially as described.

6. A trimming device including an upper and lower cooperating members,one of said members having a sharp cutting surface so disposed relativeto the other member as to partially sever the material and an abrad ingsurface in rear of the sharp cutting surface for completely severingsaid material and a feeding surface in advance of said severingsurfaces; substantially as described.

7 A trimming device including upper and lower oscillating members, oneof said members having a surface for partially severing the material anda surface in rear thereof for completely severing said material thesurface for partly severing the material being located nearer to thecenter of the oscillating member carrying said surface than the surfacefor completely severing said material; substantially as described.

8. A trimming device including upper and lower oscillating members, oneof said members having a sharp severing surface and an abrading surface,said sharp severing surface being nearer to the center of theoscillating member carrying the same than the abrading surface;substantially as described.

9. A trimming device including upper and lower oscillating members, oneof said members having a sharp severing surface and an abrading surface,said sharp severing surface being nearer to the center of theoscillating member carrying the same than the abrading surface and afeeding surface formed on said oscillating member in advance of saidsevering surfaces; substantially as described.

10. A trimming device including upper and lower oscillating members, oneof said members having a sharp cutting surface formed on the arc of acircle having a center between said surface and the center ofoscillation of said member, an operating surface formed on an are havinga center substantially at the center of oscillation of said member;substantially as described.

11. A trimming device including upper and lower oscillating members, oneof said members having a sharp cutting surface formed on the arc of acircle having a center between said surface and the center ofoscillation of said member and an operating surface formed on an arehaving a center substantially at the center of oscillation of saidmember and a feeding surface formed on said member in advance of saidsevering surfaces; substantially as described.

12. In a trimming device for sewing machines having a lower device ormember, the vibrating upper device having a surface cooperating with alower device, to sever the material between them by abrasion, and havingalso a knife edge surface in advance of the abrading surface and havinga toothed edge in advance of the knife edge surface; substantially asdescribed.

13. In a trimming device for sewing machines having a lower device ormember the vibrating upper device having a surface cooperating with alower device to sever the material between them by abrasion, said upperdevice being provided with a cut away side portion in rear of theabrading surface; substantially as described.

14. In a trimming device for sewing machines having a lower device ormember, the vibrating upper device having a surface cooperating with alower device, to sever the material between them by abrasion, and havingalso a knife edge surface in advance of the abrading surface, and havinga toothed edge in advance of the knife edge surface, and having its rearportion cut away on the side in rear of the abrading surface;substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I afiix my slgnature, in presence of two witnesses.

RUSSEL G. WOODWARD.

Witnesses:

C. MCNEIL, W. S. NORTH.

